Soft generators using dielectric elastomers

The potential to produce light-weight, low-cost, wearable dielectric elastomer generators has been limited by the requirement for bulky rigid, and expensive external circuitry. In this letter, we present a soft dielectric elastomer generator whose stretchable circuit elements are integrated within the membrane. The soft generator achieved an energy density of 10 mJ/g at an efficiency of 12% and simply consisted of low-cost acrylic membranes and carbon grease mounted in a frame. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3572338]